Chapter Twenty

Tuesday

“So…” Sumin trailed off, blinking her big eyes at Yoomi expectantly.

“So, what?” Yoomi asked, the question mumbled slightly since she was too busy shoveling her breakfast into to pay attention to her friend fully. She had left the S-class house earlier than usual that morning in order to get to the dorm cafeteria without the boys tagging along. Sure, she loved their company, but it felt like it had been forever since she sat down and got to talk with Sumin and Jinwoo without them around, either distracting them all or teasing her mercilessly. She had just been spending so much time around the boys, so it was nice to hang out with her two friends alone for a change. However, the fact that she had woken up early so that she could attempt to sneak out unnoticed meant that she was more tired than normal and it was difficult to keep up with Sumin’s high level of energy and general bubbliness in the morning- or any time of the day.

“So, where’s your entourage?” Sumin pressed, leaning forward over the table to get closer to Yoomi. In the process of doing so, she accidently bumped Jinwoo’s bowl, encroaching on his personal space and causing him to let out a drawn-out sigh that conveyed his feelings perfectly.

“My what?” Yoomi blinked, chuckling as she watched Jinwoo gently shove Sumin’s face away finally. She pouted but didn’t complain, brushing the action off in favor of continuing their conversation. Of course, she was probably used to this sort of thing anyway; Yoomi had surprisingly already gotten used to their antics not long after befriending them, so this didn’t surprise her either.

“You know, the harem of hot males that follow you around all the time?” Sumin sang, sending Yoomi another one of her increasingly suggestive winks. The other girl stuttered, face feeling hot again, only to have her friend dismissively wave away all of her protests and excuses in typical, over exaggerated Sumin fashion.

“You ran away?!” She slammed her hand down on the table rather loudly, eyes wide and expression practically scandalized after Yoomi had told her that she snuck out that morning. Well, it was more like she had attempted to sneak out- Kyungsoo, Yifan and Junmyeon were already up and awake, though they had let her leave without any problems once she had told them her intentions. Kyungsoo had said that he would just make breakfast for the boys this morning in order to give her some time alone with her friends, and Junmyeon had promised to come to pick her up from the dorm cafeteria so that they could hang out before classes started.

“I didn’t run away!” Yoomi denied quickly. “Stop being so dramatic.”

“I’m not dramatic-!”

“You’re a bit dramatic,” Jinwoo cut in, deadpanned. Sumin let out a gasp of betrayal, but he didn’t seem to care very much, continuing to eat his meal undisturbed. Yoomi giggled again, feeling some of the stress from the past week melt away. Speaking of stress though, she had to tell her friends about accidentally getting in trouble the day prior, as well as update them on her flashback. After everything that had happened yesterday, she still hadn’t been able to talk to anyone about the memory that had suddenly come to her, it not having been the right time to discuss it in the middle of her being scolded and it having briefly slipped her mind as the night went on and the boys distracted her. She felt that what she had seen though was very important and felt the need to talk about it with someone- who better than her two best friends that she knew would always support and help her out?

“I did get into a little trouble yesterday afternoon, though,” Yoomi confessed with her previous thoughts in mind, “but I swear it was an accident!”

“Again?” Sumin teased before letting out a rumbling bout of laughter that caused a few heads to turn to them. Well, that hadn’t exactly been the reaction that Yoomi had expected. Weren’t her friends supposed to ask her with worry of what happened, instead?

“Just how many accidents do you cause, Yoomi?” Jinwoo, the more sensible one out of the three of them, chided. “What did you “accidentally” do this time?”

“Hey! You make me sound like a troublemaker!” Yoomi complained, a pout growing on her face. “Plus, it was all because of that persistent fourth year girl that seems to hate me for no reason!” The frustration in her voice was clearly evident.

“Oh my gosh, don’t tell me it’s that Mina again? What did she do to you? Tell me, Yoomi-ah, I’ll go beat her up for you!”

“Sumin-ah!” Yoomi gasped in complete shock. “Don’t say that! She may be a little- okay very mean-, but we shouldn’t call her that. And don’t even talk about beating her up, I tried and ended up with a punishment instead,” she grumbled the last part sourly under her breath. She understood that what she did in the heat of the moment probably wasn’t the best, she really did, but that didn’t mean that she was happy with her punishment in the slightest.

“Punishment?” Jinwoo repeated, looking beyond confused. “And it’s not really like you to resort to violence like that. In fact, that’s something I expect more from Sumin,” he added, ignoring the ‘hey!’ that came from the mentioned girl. “What exactly happened?”

“It was during my free period when I was on my way to the library, minding my own business, when Song Mina stopped me and started insulting me for no reason at all. I tried to just ignore it at first, but then she brought Junmyeon oppa into it, and then I just blew up!” Sumin nodded enthusiastically while Yoomi told the story, urging her to continue, while Jinwoo was wearing his thoughtful face and listened quietly.

“And then everything after that point was a blur. I don’t know where the sudden rush of explosive energy came from. It was like something was welling up inside me and needed to be released. I mean, I was furious, sure, but it felt like more than that- almost like my body was acting on its own.  When I came back to my senses again, I had almost slapped her in the face.”

“Oh my gosh, my sweet little baby Yoomi slapping someone?” Sumin squealed, dramatically clutching her heart before becoming completely serious again. “So, did you? Did you slap her?” Why, despite having become serious, did the look in her eyes make it seem like she really wished Yoomi had hit Mina? Honestly, that was something she would have expected from Sumin. But no, she shouldn’t judge her friend. This is just the kind of person Sumin was, and she was still the best friend Yoomi could ever ask for. Still intent on clearing the whole thing up though, Yoomi instantly dashed her friend’s hopes by denying it.

“Oh gosh, no, I didn’t. Yifan and- I mean Kris and Lay- oppa stopped me just in time. And that’s when I got into trouble. Sat through a ten-minute lecture right then and then again at dinner when Junmyeon oppa found out.”

“And your punishment?” Jinwoo repeated.

“Ooh, punishment? Does it involve the be-” Before Sumin could finish the rest of her borderline scandalous sentence, Jinwoo roughly slapped a hand over , stopping his best friend from corrupting anymore of Yoomi’s innocence. Sumin struggled a little to get the boy’s hand off her face but to no avail, Jinwoo kept them there and gestured for Yoomi to continue.

“They banned me from swimming for a week.” As Yoomi told them that another pout etched its way onto her face, bitter that her favorite hobby was banned; it was understandable, since Junmyeon knew how much the sport meant to her, but she still thought it was a bit unfair. All things considered, it could be called a “tame” punishment that most wouldn’t think twice about, but for Yoomi, it was a really big deal. She usually went swimming at least twice a week, if only even for a half hour, no matter what. It was her stress reliever and passion. She wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to survive without it- especially when this week was already proving to be a difficult one for her. “I can’t believe they would do that! Isn’t Junmyeon oppa supposed to be on my side? Why was he the one who suggested it instead?” The girl grumbled on- albeit half playfully-, still not quite over her own mate’s betrayal.

"Oh gosh, I totally get you! The dorm head once banned me from using the spa for a month after she caught me sneaking out of the dorms past midnight. My skin had never felt so neglected," Sumin reminisced sympathetically.

“Oh!” Sumin’s sudden exclamation brought the sulking girl out of her thoughts before she could get too depressed again about her punishment- she had pouted so much she almost stole the championship title away from Sehun when she first found out that she was banned from swimming by Junmyeon this morning. “Looks like Prince Charming came to capture his runaway bride~ You should probably stop complaining about him if you still want true love’s kiss this morning.”

“Huh?” Yoomi blinked, all of the fairytale princess references flying straight over her head since the change in topic was so abrupt.

“S-suho-sunbaenim!” Jinwoo stammered, dropping his spoon into his bowl with a clang and straightening himself up. Yoomi’s eyes widened at the name, her tired brain snapping awake fully as she finally understood Sumin’s remark and realized that the boy she had just been talking about had suddenly appeared.

“Junmyeon oppa!” The shorter girl turned around, greeting him happily -her tired venting and pouting forgotten-, though with an undertone of surprise in her voice. She hadn’t expected him to come to pick her up so soon- especially not when she was in the midst of badmouthing him-, but she didn’t entirely mind it either. He was her mate after all, and she was always happy when he was around, no matter what.

“Hey sweetheart, gossiping about me I see,” Junmyeon teased once he was close enough to her, sliding a hand around her shoulder from his standing position and bending down to plant a soft peck on the top of her head, completely ignoring the looks they got from the other students around their table, before he looked up to greet Sumin- who had that erted, knowing look on her face again- and a red-faced Jinwoo.

“I’ll see you guys at first period,” Yoomi told her friends and waved goodbye to them, heading out of the dining hall, Junmyeon’s warm hand resting at the small of her back.

There was still quite a bit of time left before first period would start, so the couple ended up over at the greenhouse, sitting just inside, under the canopy near the same striking pink and purple flowers Yoomi had been admiring before she had gotten tangled in those vines on her first day at the academy. They sat there in peaceful silence for a minute, taking in the serenity of the plants and flowers. Junmyeon had a protective arm wrapped around her waist from the side, with her head resting in the crook of his neck where she could share his warmth and conveniently take in his scent.

“Junmyeon oppa,” the girl started, tone completely serious when she remembered that she had been wanting to tell him something for a long time. When she received a semi-worried look from her mate and a hum for her to go on, she continued. “Did you know that you smell really good?”

His furrowed brows instantly relaxed and he let out an amused chuckle. “That was what you wanted to tell me?”

She nodded enthusiastically at him, unknowingly droning on and on about how nice he smelled, how nice he looked, how great he is, how much she loved hugging him, and whatnot. When she finally realized that she had completely lost control and started saying really embarrassing things, Junmyeon was tenderly holding her face and caressing it in his gentle hands, his eyes flashing sparkly blue as he gazed lovingly at her. Yoomi trailed off, her voice fading into silence, with a bright blush growing on her face. She had stopped talking partly out of her sudden realization and partly because his adoring eyes had abruptly stolen the breath from her lungs.

“What’s with the sudden confession, kitten?” he whispered gently with a loving smile on his face.

“I just…” Yoomi paused. How could she put it into words? Everything she could think of seemed inadequate, so she settled for trying to change the subject instead, too flustered to say what she had been planning to say.

“You know, this was where I first met Kyungsoo oppa. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life,” the lightly blushing girl tried to hide her flusteredness by saying the first thing that came to mind, looking away from Junmyeon and over to the vines with the tiny flowers that she still found mesmerizing.

“Oh? Was it? What did you do?” Junmyeon feigned obliviousness to her ‘subtle’ attempt at changing the topic, instead, giving her story his full attention. Yoomi was just too adorable for her own good at times, he couldn’t help but give in to the girl.

“Well, I was just exploring this place, but then Kyungsoo oppa suddenly came in and the noise he made startled me, which lead to me accidentally tripping when I jumped back. I ended up hitting my head on the weeping willow tree and somehow managing to get myself tangled in its leaves and vines from all my flailing. He found me hanging in the air, struggling like that.” She involuntarily winced at the awkwardness of the encounter as she recalled it.

Junmyeon laughed hard, to the point of throwing his head back and even clutching onto his tummy with a hand. If a random student were to come in and see the sight of the always-professional Student Union president laughing so hard, they’d probably get a heart attack. Yoomi was secretly glad such sights were reserved only for her to see. “I’m not even surprised, kitten. The amount of trouble you ‘accidentally’ get yourself into amazes me.”

“Hey, don’t laugh at me!” she complained, playfully crossing her arms across her chest as if she were upset. As much as she hated to admit it, she had to agree with him; it amazed even herself how much of a trouble magnet and total klutz she could be at times.

They spent a couple more minutes like that, laughing and talking before Junmyeon decided that it was time to head back so that they weren’t late to class. Just before they reached the door though, Yoomi reached out and grabbed onto his sleeve, preventing him from leaving. The action was instinctual and even she was surprised for a split second before she took in a shaky breath and looked up to meet his curious and slightly worried gaze.

“Yoomi?” he asked, wondering why she had stopped him and concerned in case something was wrong.

“Oppa,” Yoomi said as firmly as she could, looking straight into his eyes. She had cut herself off earlier and changed the subject to something more light hearted, trying to avoid the confession that had been bouncing around in her head the past few days and bothering her, but something about the sight of him getting ready to leave without knowing her feelings had pushed her to try again. She didn’t like how his back had been turned to her, walking away. She felt like she had to say something- like this was the perfect moment.

She had little experience in this category, but she steeled herself and released a calming breath, making sure to not break eye contact with him. For some reason, instead of making her more nervous, the sight of his soft eyes made her relax a little, confidence building up despite the fact that her heart was still pounding harshly against her ribcage.

“I think I’m falling in love with you,” she paused, shaking her head as if that didn’t sound quite right, and then gave him a sheepish smile as she corrected herself, “no, I am in love with you.”

The suddenly shy girl saw another angelic smile flash on his face, this one bigger than all the ones he’d ever given her, before she was abruptly pulled into him and his lips pressed lightly against hers, meeting for the first time. The girl let out a startled squeal, although it didn’t take long for her eyes to slide closed on their own. Her hands moved to grip on the soft fabric of his sleeveless jumper whilst one of his moved to caress the back of her neck and the other pulled her even closer to him by the waist. Yoomi was unsure, not quite certain of what she was supposed to do with it being her first ever kiss, although her mate’s lips easily coaxed her to move her own against his soft pair. The kiss was soft and sweet, and she easily melted into it, the world around them both left behind as they focused on only one another.

“I love you too, Lee Yoomi.”

***

“Mimiiii~” A familiar, hyper voice sounded behind Yoomi, before Baekhyun himself appeared, bounding up to her like an overexcited puppy even while flying in midair. The moment he reached her, the older boy grabbed her arm and pulled her up into the air, her wings instinctively popping out and holding her afloat beside him- flying had become much easier and more natural for her as of late. Now that they were the same height, he slung the arm he had pulled her up with around her shoulder and she couldn’t help but inwardly laugh at how excited and energetic he always appeared, no matter the situation.

“Hi, Baekhyun oppa,” she greeted him with a smile. “And who’s Mimi? I don’t reckon that’s a new nickname you have made for me?” she teased slightly, tilting her head while looking up at him questioningly.

“Oh, you can bet it is.” He nodded his head a few too many times, the motion a bit over exaggerated due to his typical cheerfulness. “It’ll be my special nickname for you and nobody else but I can call you that,” Baekhyun claimed matter-of-factly with a satisfied grin on his lips, to which Yoomi let out a small chuckle at. She could already imagine the other boys adopting that nickname for her in a day’s time, especially some of the more playful and mischievous ones like Jongdae, Chanyeol, and Jongin, but she didn’t want to ruin Baekhyun’s happiness (even if only for a short moment), so she didn’t say anything.

“Anyways,” he continued, “you have to hang out with me right now and then fly to Power Training together. Junmyeon hyung’s been hogging you way too much and I barely get to even talk to you these days!” He pouted, nearly kicking his feet around in the air like a child throwing a tantrum.

The whiny tone of his voice somehow sounded extremely cute to her ears and, much like the unavoidable need to cuddle a puppy when it looked sad, Yoomi just couldn’t help but give in to his wishes- not that she wouldn’t even if he wasn’t cute. The two leisurely flew to one of the many gardens in the academy, one of Baekhyun’s arms slung comfortably over her shoulder still and never faltering from its place there.

“Say, oppa, why are there so many trees here? And in so many unnatural colors, too.” She blurted the question out without much thought as she casually glanced around at their surroundings, noticing the abundance of colorful plants. It was actually something that she had been a little curious about ever since she first stepped foot into the academy, but hadn’t gotten around to asking anyone about yet. There was just so much nature here, and while it was extremely beautiful and she wasn’t complaining, it also seemed unnatural for a school. “And a lot of open-air areas too. It’s like we’re practically living in a jungle,” she commented absently.

“That’s because we’re vaeli, silly!” Baekhyun gave a carefree laugh as if something so simple was obvious and a perfectly viable explanation.

“So?” Yoomi frowned, brows furrowed in confusion. She knew that she was still new to the whole vaeli thing and in the process of figuring this out, but it didn’t seem like something self-explanatory to her. “What does that have anything to do with designing the academy like a great big jungle?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. My clueless little Mimi,” he sighed dramatically, though his tone was still playful despite the fact that he was feigning disappointment, “ you don’t know anything about our race at all, do you? How cute.” He teased, a hand reaching out to pinch her cheek, completely ignoring her resulting whine of protest.

“Blame it on our history professor, he does anything but teach!” Baekhyun let out a little laugh at that, remembering Yifan telling them about the pathetic excuse of a professor the first years have for their Vaeli History class. He swore with the way the older boy had been talking, that he was going to march up to the headmaster and complain someday, having been muttering to himself that the education system must be the reason that Jongin always seemed like such a helpless case when it came to school work- at least Sehun did his own work and generally did well in all of his classes.

“We are direct descendants of fairies, and fairies were creatures of nature; they practically lived off of nature’s essence. So naturally, we too are alive because of nature and have a love for it just like they did,” he explained to her as simply as he could.

“Ahh,” she finally nodded in understanding; that did make sense after all.

“Also, you’re claustrophobic aren’t you?” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow knowingly.

The girl gawked at him in surprise from his question, a bit stunned that he had brought her fear up so bluntly. It came as no surprise to her that he knew, considering what had happened when Jihoon dropped the tent on her and how Jongin had proceeded to tell everyone about it angrily. Recalling that time, she faintly remembered something about vaeli in general hating enclosed spaces, but she couldn’t remember the exact words from the brief mention exactly. Furrowing her brows in concentration, she tried to make the connection on her own on what Baekhyun was getting at by bringing up her fear now in regards to the academy’s set-up. The look on her face must have been ridiculous, because he began chuckling and tried to pinch her cheeks again, cooing about how cute she was.

“All vaeli are claustrophobic to a certain degree,” he revealed, reminding her of this bit of information while releasing her with one last laugh at her clueless expression. His laugh was actually adorable, but the burning of her sore cheek from the harsh pinch